What to include in your methodology chapter in your dissertation / thesis
I’m busily working away on my methodology chapter for my PhD thesis and puzzling around how to structure the chapter and debating about what to include and what to exclude and what should be included elsewhere in the thesis.
I’ve currently structured the chapter with a section on theoretical background for each of the methodologies I’m using. A section on the research participants and sampling and a section on the format of the data collection and ethical considerations.
I think I am going to leave any data analysis methods out of this chapter, but when I do I will discuss the approach and linking my justification with the goals of the research.
I’ve been collating literature sources that contain information for the methods discussion and working through discussions on theoretical issues. I’m also going to look in the library at other dissertations to see how others have approached this.
What are your thoughts on what a methods chapter should cover?